Issue

Sears received feedback from online shoppers (including our members) that the checkout process is too long. To address this, our User Experience Design team decided to create a new checkout experience designed to decrease the steps required for the checkout process. This project was repeated with multiple iterations of the original design.

* I cannot discuss specific findings or design recommendations but I can discuss the process and general outcome of the study. 

 

Note: Due to confidentiality, the image above is not the design that was used in this study. I created this one to give an example of what “One Page Checkout” means..

Process

These unmoderated tests were conducted using one of our remote usability tools. A total of 26 users over the course of 4 tests participated in this study. The first test used a static image to gauge if users knew where to go to complete their purchase and where to edit their shipping/payment information.

All subsequent tests used mid- to high-fidelity prototypes that provided users with a real-world shopping experience. With each iteration the design team added and changed various elements to increase user comprehension and noticeability. These tests also included items with complex fulfillment methods: delivery/installation, pickup in store, or ship to their homes. This helped gauge if having a complex shopping cart affected users’ comprehension. 

 

Outcome 

With each iteration of the prototype, more usability issues (in areas that previously had none) were found. I realized that the designers were making additional changes to sections that were not identified as having usability issues. Because of this, after the fourth round of testing, the design team decided to revisit the original design and adhere to the design recommendations that were mentioned in previous UXR reports.

Once the team created and agreed upon the final design, we did a usability test to confirm that all usability issues were resolved. When the design went live, we looked at quantitative data to ensure that users were able to complete their purchase. Furthermore, comments and feedback on the site showed that users found the one-page checkout to be user-friendly and made it much quicker and easier to checkout than the previous design. This checkout design is now live on Sears.com.

My Contributions:

  • Create protocol

  • Document observations

  • Create and score heuristics

  • Analyze data

  • Create and present report